Cableway carriage



Sept. 30, 1930 (J. p S -r 1,776,958

CABLBIAY CARRIAGE Filed Jan. 5. 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 J. P- STREETcnnswu mariner:

' Sept. 30, 1930.

3 Sheets-Sneet 3 Filed Jan. 5, 1929 Patented Sept. 30, 1930 PATENTOFFICE JOSEPH P. STREET, OF GEATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE CABLEWAVY CARRIAGEApplication filed January 5, 1929. Serial' No. 330,660.

This invention relates to aerial cableways and more especially tocarriages for use in connection therewith, these-carriages being of thetype adapted toemploy carriers used for supporting the running lines ofthe cableways. The invention is more especially an improvement upon thestructure disclosed in Patent Number 1,520,780 issued to me on December30, 1924. I V

In structures of the type referred to it is the practice to utilizecarriers for supporting the running lines at substantially pro;

determined distances apart, the carriage being provided with a means forsuccessively l5 picking up these carriers while moving in one directionand for successively delivering the carriers to the main or supportingcable when w the carriage travels in the opposite direction. While astructure of the type disclosed in my patent hereinbefore referred tohas operated eiiiciently, it has been found that, when the carriage istravelling at a high speed and it is desired at the same time to pick upthe carriers, said carriers have, at times, bounced 95 back from thehorn after being received thereby. It is an object of thepresentinvcntion to provide a means for retaining the. carriers on thehorn of the carriage after they have been received thereby and until itis de sired to deliver'them therefrom.

. Q'iilfill'lt means for resetting the mechanism should any of the partsslip so-as not to properiy distribute the carriers. 555i A still 4 1 ierieducing to the minimum t IQVWBELI' onvt e horn forming a part of thecarnage.

view which will appear as the description proceeds the invention,resides-in the combi-.-

nation arrangement'of parts and in the details of constructionhereinafter described and claimed it being understoodth'at changes theprecise embodiment of the invention -..erein disclosedmay-be made'within the scope of. whatis claimed without departing from the spiritofthe invention. 7 V

In the; accompanying. drawings the preferred form of the invention hasbeen shown.

it In said drawings,

further objectis to providea means Figure l is a side elevation ofaportion of a carriage having the present improvements, a part beingshown in section.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the remaining portion of the carriage. V

Figure 2is an enlarged section online 22, Figure 1. r p

Figure 3 is an enlarged section on line 3 3, Figure 1. i

Figure is a section on line 44, Figure 2. -Referring to the figures bycharacters of. reference 1 designatesia-portion of the side plates ofthe carriage, these side plates cooperating toconstitute the mainportion or body ofthe carriage. They are adapted to be supported by anydesired number of sheaves 2 and an additional or drive sheave 3 all ofwhich are mounted to travel on the main supporting rope or cable A. Anin-haul line 4 is connected to one end of the body ,1 of the carriagewhilean out-haul'line 5 is adapt-ed to be connected to the other end ofthe body of thecarriage. Thus the carriage can be moved back and forthalong the main supporting rope or cable A in the same manner asdisclosed in my patent hereinbefore mentioned.

The sheave 3 and adjacent sheave2 are mounted between truck plates 6 andthese 1 plates are attachedto the side plates 1 of A further object isto provide simple and the body for supporting them.

The sheave 3 is keyed or otherwise fastened to its shaft 7 and thisshaft has a gear 8 which meshes with a gear 9 carried by a sleeve-10. Onthis sleeve is journaled the'85 hub 1110f a friction clutch member 12adapty 7 v edto be engaged by another friction clutch ,With theforegoing and other objects in member 13 which is keyed or otherwisesecured to a shaft 14. journaled. in a bearing bracket 15 extendinglaterally from the rear forked endportion. 16 of an elongated horn 17.This forked portion of the horn is piv- Voted on the shaft 7 and isextended backare mounted between the plates 1 and guide sheaves 24 aremounted between the plates 1 adjacent their upper edges for engaging themain supporting rope or cable A.

The front or free end of the horn 17 has a pick-up head 25 the upperedge of which is inclined. downwardly from a retaining shoulder 26. Acrosshead 27 is slidably mounted on the horn and extended laterallyherefronl to provide bearings 28, 29 and 30. In the bearings and 29 issecured a feed nut 31. The shaft 14- is screw-threaded for the greaterportion of its lengtln as shown at 32 and this threaded portion extendsthrough and engages the nut 31. A longitudinal keyway 33 is formed inthe threaded portion ofthe shaft 14 and provides a seat for a key orfeather 34 extending inwardly from a worm n the form of a sleeve heldbetween the bearin and 30 and adapted to rotate with the shaft As shownparticularly in Figure 1 the worm 35 has an annular groove at each enddo which the spiral groove defined by the worm opens at both ends.

The free end portion of the shaft 14 has a nut 36 mounted thereon andconstituting an abutment for one end of a coiled spring 3'? extendedtoward the crosshead 27. A col lar 88 is adj ustably mounted on theshaft ll between the bearings 15 and 3-6 and has a coiled spring 39extending therefrom toward the bearing 30. i

A segmental gear 40 is journaled on the crosshead and has an arm 11extending there from, this arm being provided with a spring pressed pin42 adapted to ride in the groove of the worm 35. A stud 43 is extendedclownwardly from the arm 41 between centering plungers -14 which areslidable within sleeves 45 held by the bearings 29 and 30. In thesesleeves are coiled springs 46 which tend to thrust the plungers towardeach other so as to hold the stud 43 normally centered between thebearings 29 and 30. These springs are adapted to be ad usted by means ofscrew plugs 47.

A mutilated gear l8 is journaled on the crosshead and meshes with thesegmental gear 4-0. This mutilated gear has a wrist pin 49 engaged by alink 50 which, in turn, is pivotally connected to a distributing plunger51 slidable longitudinally of thecrosshead and having a depending head52. This plunger is slidable within guides on the crosshead and one ofthese guidesis extended upwardly as shown at 54tto provide a support foran elongated channeled strip 55 located above the horn l7 and pivotallymounted adjacent one end, as shown at 56, in a bracket 57 carried by therear portion of the horn. V

A bracket 58 is connected to and extends upwardly from the distributingplunger 51 and is provided with an opening 59 through which thechanneled strip 55 extends loosely.

Jaws 60 are pivotally connected to the bracket 58 and a rod 61 isextended transversely through them, there being springs 62 mounted onthe end portions of the rod. Each spring bears at one end against a heador nut 63 on the end of the rod and at its other end against one of thejaws. Thus the free ends of the jaws are pressed normally toward eachother where they will frictionally engage opposite faces of an annularrod 64 extending longitudinally of the channeled strip 55 and mounted inguides 65 provided therefor.

The free end of the strip 55 is located above the upper inclined face ofthe head 25 of horn 17 and has a pawl 66 pivotally con' nected thereto.An arm 67 is extended from this pawl and, as shown particularly inFigure 1, is normally in the path of the rod 64. Obviously, when the rod641: is drawn to the right in Figure 1 so as to be pulled away from thearm 67, the pawl 66 will hang downwardly over the head 25 so as toretain on the horn any members engaged thereby. However, when rod 64 isthrust to the left in Figure 1, it will come against the arm 67and'raise the pawl 66 as shown in said figure so to release any objectsheld by the horn. 4

A spring 68 is interposed between the head 52 of the distributingplunger 51 and the adjacent guide 53 so that said head is thus normallythrust away from the guide.

Depending from the crosshead 27 are spaced bumpers 60 which straddle themain supporting'rope or cable A. Links 70 are pivotally connected to thelower portions of the bumpers and extend between the plates 1 of thebody of the carnage where they are pivotally connected to the lower endsof levers Tl fulcrumed on and depending from the portion 16. Atintermediate points these levers 71 are connected by links 72 to levers73 which are fulcrumee at their lower ends in a frame 74 supported bythe rear portion 16 of the horn.

The upper ends of the levers 73 are connected by links Y5 to thecrosshead 27. The links 75 with the other levers and links TL 72 and 73act to hold the lower portions of the bumpers against swinging relativeto the horn 17 and binding thereonf Instead, when the lower portions ofthe horn are subjected to thrust said thrust will be transmitted throughthe links 'Z() to the levers T1 which, in turn will pull through thelinks 72 upon levers 73. These levers will pull through the links 75upon the upper portion of the crosshead. Consequently the thrust againstthe lower portions of the bumpers will be equalized at the top of thecrosshead and danger of said crosshead tilting and binding on the hornso as to wear it, is eliminated.

A plurality of fall rope carriers has been indicated at 76 and areadapted, as ordinari ly, to be distributed at substantially regulardistances along the main supporting rope or cable A. When it is desiredto pick up these carriers the carriage is pulled along the cable or ropeA by means of the line 4. During the first portion of this movement ofthe carriage sheave 3 will transmit motion through the gears andfriction clutch to the shaft 14, thereby causing the wormto revolve withthe shaft and at the same time feed the crosshead 27 along the threadedportion of the shaft 14 away from the nut or collar 36. During the firstportion of the foregoing movement the pin 42 will be shifted by the wormso as to actuate the gears and 4:8 and cause the link to thrustagainstplunger 51 and move the head 52 toward the guide 53, thereby to compressspring 58 and move the head 52 away from the shoulder 26. This willprovde sufficient clearance to receive the supporting wheel 77 of thefirst fall rope carrier 76. At the same time this movement of plunger 51will pull the brack- V et 58 toward the pivot 56- ofthe channeled stripand, consequently, the jaws 60, which grip the rod 64, will pull saidrod away from the arm 67 and allow the pawl 66 to drop down to retainingposition from the position shown in full lines in Figure 1. Thisretaining position of the pawl has been indicated by broken lines inFigure 1. With the parts thus located the carriage, as it is moved alongthe main rope or cable A will pick up the fall rope carrierssuccessively,

- thefirst carrier riding upwardly on thein clinedupper edge of the head25 past the pawl 66 and into the space between the shoulder 26 and thehead 52. As the carriage continues to move forwardly the head 52 will bedrawn farther back by the crosshead 27 thence upwardly by the threadedshaft 14. Thus room is provided to receive thewheel 77 of the secondfall rope carrier. By the time the crosshead reaches the limit ofit-s'sliding movement alon the horn- 17 all of the fall rope carrierswill have been picked up and be supported by the born as shown in'Figure1.

When it is desired to A, the movement of the carriage is reversed bypulling through the line- 5. 7 During the first portion of this returnmovement the pin 42 is shifted by the worm 35 into the annular w. grooveat the other end of said worm This will cause motion to be transmittedbyv the gears &0 and 18 through the link 50 to the plunger 51 sothat'head 52 will be thrust against the wheel 77 of the adjacent fallrope carrier. 'During thefirst portion of,

this movement the rod 64, which is gripped bythe jaws 60, will thrustagainst the arms 67 and raise the pawl from the dotted posi tion shownin Figure 1 to'the full line position. Immediately following this thehead i der 26 so that it will ride down along the inclined edge of head25 on to the rope or cable A. This movement isof course set up a by thetravel of the crosshead 27 along the horn 17 through the action of thethreaded portion of the shaft 24. The positions of the parts followingthe shifting of the rod 6 1- to lift the pawl andprior to the deliveryof the firstfall rope carrier,- is shown in Figure 1. Followingthedelivery of the first fall rope carrier, the crosshead is graduallymoved toward the head 25 until the head 52 pushes another fall ropecarrier over the head 25 and on to the cable or rope A. During this timethe jaws slide'alongthe en gaged rods 64; Thus the fall rope-carrierswill;.be delivered at regular intervals on to the main supporting ropeor cable after which the carrier can be reversed and the It will beunderstood-thatlas the mechanism of this carrier is operated by thesheave 3 1n engagement with the main supporting rope or cable A, therewill be a sli ht slipping ofthe sheave on the cable during the rapidback and forth movement of the carriage. vThis slipping occurs when thecar: riageis not loaded. Each time the carriage travels in one directiona small amount of slippage is liable to occur and ultimately thisslippage will amount to so much as to make an uneven distributionofthefall rope carriers alongthe main supporting rope or cable 'A. IToicorr'ect this the-carriage is caused to move alongthe supportingropeor distribute the carriers over the main supporting rope or cable cableA-until the crosshead27 has come into contact with the limit stopordinarily provided and not-shown in the drawings; This will resultinone of the springs 37 or 39 coming against'the adjacent bearing 28 or 30and contracting while the shaft 14 is held against rotation. Thefriction clutch made up ofthe parts 12 and 13 permit of a slip drivebet-weenthe sheave 3 and shaft it during this operation. In other wordsthe carriage is causedftotravel to the limit of What is claimed is:

l. The combination with a track cable, and a carriage movable therealongincluding a sheave engaging and rotatable on the cable, of means movablewith the carriage for supporting a plurality of fall rope carriers, afreely movable retaining pawl movable into and out of retainingposition, said pawl being adapted to hold the fall rope carriers on thesupporting means, and means operated by the rotation of the sheave forsuccessively shifting the retaining pawl to release the fall ropecarrier and delivering said carriers on to the cable from the supportingmeans.

2. The combination with a track cable, of a carriage movable therealongincluding a supporting sheave for engagement with the cable, meansmovable with the carriage for supporting a plurality of fall ropecarriers, a' freely movable retaining pawl supported adjacent to saidsupporting means and movable into and out of retaining position, saidpawl being adapted to hold the fall rope carriers against jumping fromthe supporting means, means operated by the rotation of said sheave forshifting the retaining pawl to free the fall rope carriers and forsuccessively delivering said carriers from said supporting means duringthe movement of the carriage along the cable in one direction, therebyto deposit the carriers at substantially regular intervals.

3. The combination with a supporting cable, of a carriage mountedthereon including a rotatable sheave, means movable with the carriagefor supporting a plurality of fall rope carriers, a retaining elementmovable into and out of retaining position, said element being adaptedto hold the fall rope carriers against displacement from the supportingmeans, ejecting mechanism operated by said sheave for delivering thecarriers successively from the supporting means to distribute them atsubstantially regular intervals along the cable, and means operated bythe ejecting mechanism for shifting the retaining element to releasingposition in advance of the ejection of the fall rope carriers.

4. The combination with a supporting cable, of a carriage mountedthereon including a rotatable sheave, means movable with the carriagefor supporting a plurality of fall rope carriers, a retaining elementmovable into and out of retaining position, said element being adaptedto hold the carriers against displacement relative to the support ingmeans, ejecting mechanism operated by the sheave for delivering thecarriers successively from the supporting means to distribute them atsubstantially regular intervals along the cable, and means including aslip connection for transmitting motion from the ejecting mechanism tothe retaining element to shift said element and release the fall ropecarriers in advance of the ejection thereof.

5. The combination with a supporting cable, of a carriage mountedthereon including a rotatable sheave, means movable with the carriagefor supporting a plurality of fall rope carriers, a retaining elementmovable into and out of retaining position, said element being adaptedto hold the carriers against displacement relative to the supportingmeans, ejecting mechanism operated by the sheave for delivering thecarriers successively from the supporting means to distribute them atsubstantially regular intervals along the cable, and means actuated bythe ejecting mechanism for shifting the retaining element to release thefall rope carriers in advance of the ejection thereof, said meansincluding friction jaws movable with the ejecting mechanism and a pushrod for engaging the retaining element to shift itto releasing position,said rod being frictionally and slidably engaged by the jaws foractuation thereby.

6. The combination with a track cable, of a carriage movable therealongand including a cable su 'iporting sheave mounted for rota tion, meansmovable with the carriage for supporting a plurality of fall ropecarriers, ejecting mccl'ianism movable relative to the supporting meansand including a crosshead,

a distributing plunger movable relative to the or ,sshcad, meansoperated by tilt rota rion of the sheave in one direction forsuccessively shifting the distributing plunger relative to the crossheadand moving the crosshead relative to the supporting means, thereby toeject the carriers successively from the supporting means and depositthem on the cable, a retaining element movable into and out of retainingposition, said element being adapted to hold the carriers againstdisplacement from the supporting means,'and means actuated by thedistributing plunger for shifting the retaining element in advance ofthe ejection of the carriers, thereby to release said carriers fordelivery from the supporting means.

7. The combination with a track cable, of a carriage movable therealongand including a rotatable sheave, a horn movable with the carriage forsupporting fall rope carriers, a. pick-up head at the free end of theborn, a crosshead supported by the horn, means operated by the sheavefor moving the crosshead toward the head of the born, a member supportedabove the born, a retaining element movably connected to said member,for holding the fall rope carriers a displacement from the horn, andmeans actuated by the crosshead for shifting the retaining element torelease the fall rope carriers prior to their ejection from the born bythe crosshead.

8. The combination with a track cable, of a carriage movable therealongand includ ing a rotatable sheave, a horn movable with the carriage forsupporting fall rope carriers, a pick-up head at the free end of thehorn, a crosshead supported by the horn, means operated by the sheavefor moving the crosshead toward the head of the horn, a member supportedabove the horn, a retaining element movably connected to said member,for holding the fall rope carriers against displacement from the horn,and means actuated by the crosshead for shifting the retaining elementto release the fall rope carriers prior to their ejection from the hornby the crosshead, said means including a distributing plungerrslidablymounted on the crosshead, means for shifting said plunger relative tothe crosshead, at the beginning of movement of the crosshead in eitherdirection, and a lost motion friction connection between said plungerand the retaining element.

9. The combination with a track cable, and a carriage movable therealongincluding a sheave, of means movable with the carriage for supporting aplurality of fall rope carriers, means operated by the rotation of thesheave for successively delivering the carriers on to the cable from thesupporting means, a member connected to the carriage and extending overthe supporting means, a pawl suspended therefrom for holding thecarriers against displacement from the supporting means, a rod movableagainst and I away from the pawl to shift the pawl out of and intoposition for retaining the fall rope carriers, and a lost motionfriction connection between the delivering means and the rod.

10. The combination with a track cable, of a carriage movabletherealong, a horn tiltably connected to and projecting beyond one endof the carriage, yielding means connected to the horn for holding itnormally elevated at its free end, a crosshead movable along the horn,means operated by the movement of the carriage for shifting thecrosshead relative to the horn, spaced bumpers depending f-rom thecrosshead, and thrust equalizing connections between the lower portionsof the bumpers and the upper portion of the crosshead.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixedmy signature.

JOSEPH P. STREET.

